Commonwealth Bank to start offering Kaching for Android soon

With no launch in sight for Google Wallet in Australia it looks as though NFC Payments with phones has been limited to iPhone users utilising the Kaching application and iCarte case add-on from the Commonwealth bank. Today the Commonwealth bank updated their blog with this juicy piece of info which indicates that an Android app could be coming soon :

On every blog I am going to talk Android, because I know you are hanging out for Kaching. As an FYI, I have 3 droid phones at home and my family are also hanging out for Kaching. My daughter gave up waiting and installed it on her iPad and runs it at 2x resolution, ugly but effective. I am expecting us to kick off a staff pilot for Kaching in April and if it’s all good then we will launch it in the app store

*Obviously by App Store they mean Google Play Store.

No information on what features the Android Kaching app will have, but I would imagine they would be trying to emulate the features already offered in the iPhone application which are :

Get a quick view of your account balance with simple balance

Send money to someone using their mobile number

Make payments using your email contacts or by entering an email address

Make payments to your Facebook friends

Shop without cash or cards at any PayPass™ contactless terminal

Make BPAY® payments, transfer money between your accounts or to someone else’s account

Find your nearest Commonwealth Bank ATM or branch.

This could be enough to get me to change banks, I don`t know, obviously that decision would go through the Minister of Finance(Wife) first so we’ll wait and see on that one. Anyone else interested in Kaching on Android? I know I can’t wait to see if this encourages any of the other banks to investigate NFC payments at the very least.

Daniel Tyson Editor

Dan is a die-hard Android fan. Some might even call him a lunatic. He's been an Android user since Android was a thing, and if there's a phone that's run Android, chances are he owns it (his Nexus collection is second-to-none) or has used it.

Dan's dedication to Ausdroid is without question, and he has represented us at some of the biggest international events in our industry including Google I/O, Mobile World Congress, CES and IFA.

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The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has promised that it will release its Kaching app to Android users within six weeks, albeit without enabling internal near-field communication (NFC) chips for contactless transactions. That, according to senior bank executives, is the fault of Google, device manufacturers and a fragmented ecosystem.
Boooooo 🙁 I have a Nexus with NFC, why no support?!

Hi again, just stopped by to point out (again) there’s Australian Android App news you’ve overlooked writing about: NAB, Android App, Passcode, actually exists not just heresay. Or is this another news site with hidden sponsors and agendas? Oh and ANZ are also working on a native Android App (that’s more than a bookmark)

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has promised that it will release its Kaching app to Android users within six weeks, albeit without enabling internal near-field communication (NFC) chips for contactless transactions. That, according to senior bank executives, is the fault of Google, device manufacturers and a fragmented ecosystem.
🙁

speaking to some of my iPhone friends, most of them say they don’t even bother with kaching anymore, they just use the commbank app if they need to check balances or transfer money. having said that none of them have the NFC case, so maybe that’s the kicker